The Department of Home Affairs (including its independent operational arm, the Australian Border Force, referred to in this notice together as ‘the Department’) will exchange data with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to identify whether business sponsors are complying with their sponsorship obligations (eg, paying visa holders correctly) and whether temporary skilled visa holders are complying with their visa conditions (eg, to work only for an approved employer, and to work only in the approved occupation). Where non-compliance is identified further compliance action may be taken (eg consideration given to cancellation of a visa or the approval of a sponsor).
In this data exchange program the Department is the source and primary user agency whilst the ATO is the matching agency. The Department will provide to the ATO
- biographical details, including name, address and date of birth of clients who are, or were in the three most recently completed financial years, holders of Temporary Work (Skilled) (subclass 457) or Temporary Skills Shortage (subclass 482) primary visas; and
- details of the these clients’ business sponsors
These details will be electronically matched against ATO data holdings. Where there is a match, the ATO will return income and employment data for the relevant individual(s) to the Department. Data will be exchanged on a periodic basis. It is estimated that the total number of records shared will be around 680,000 which represents around 280,000 individuals.
A protocol document describing this program has been prepared by the Department in collaboration with the ATO. A copy of the protocol and the Department’s Privacy Policy is available from the Department’s website www.homeaffairs.gov.au/privacy.